The language in which formal learning is conducted is usually called the 'medium of instruction'. A language becomes a medium of instruction' if we learn it to gain the knowledge of other subjects. When there is more than one language available to a community, a choice has to be made about which language is to be used in education. For the education of the masses, instruction in the local/regional language is the only available option. But for formal and higher education and for getting jobs, learning English becomes a necessity.
There is data (2005) to show that 40% of the children i small towns. 80% in tribal areas and 18% in urban schools cannot read in their own language at the primary level. This is despite the efforts of the government to implement Universalization of primary education with great commitment Now this leaves little scope for the achievement of basic proficiency in English within the first four years of education as part of the eight years of exposure to English language if it is introduced in class III. This is the case in regional medium schools English medium private schools ensure a better proficiency in English as the students are exposed to English from class I itself and also through the other subjects on the syllabus.
Teaching English across the curriculum for any level is of relevance to primary-upper primary education. All learning at this level is centered around creating activities to increase child awareness of the world. English is taught as one of the subjects and not as a medium of instruction. At later stages, all learned happens through language. Language is learned mainly through comprehending and communicating messages in the written or oral form. So input rich communications environment becomes a prerequisite for language learning. Inputs include text books, class libraries, newspapers, magazines, language games, media, story books, cassettes etc. Drama and enacting of plays is a traditional way of pseudo production of language in addition to learning thy mes and poems.
If all these are included in the regular classroom activity, it can promote the child's engagement with English language and its performance. Reading stories afoul and repeated reading can help improve language proficiency. Listening and speaking skills should be strengthened first before the child gets practice in reading and writing skills.
Objectives of Teaching English-:
India is a multilingual country and every child in our society grows up with at least two languages, mother tongue and language in the immediate region. Children communicate in these languages with equal facility, with no interference at all. Children acquiring their mother tongue are not merely learning a specific language. They learn control over their speech organs and the ability to organize their experience through the use of language. Second language learners, by contrast, already have a language and concepts about the world and the ways of naming and describing it through the medium of their mother tongue. Wherever there is a lot of similarity between the mother tongue and the second language in terms of structure and concepts there is no interference, otherwise learning the mother tongue proves a major block in the learning of a second language.
Children learn the mother tongue in a natural setting, whereas the second language is learned in a simulated setting. Children learn their mother tongue as their parents and others talk to them while attending their needs. They learn their mother tongue with such speed and competence that if we can understand how, we can apply it to their learning English.
Second language learning has to be looked at in a social context. Language learning is individual but happens in society. The social context includes components such as the sociolinguistic situation, exposure to the target language. Etc. These are expressed formally in language policies of various kinds at the national and state level.
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